Apple working on a tablet PC and music deal, according to report

APPLE is working on two new projects including a portable touchscreen gadget for watching movies and reading e-books, according to a report.

One of the trend-setting company's new projects was to release a tablet PC in time for Christmas, The Financial Times said.

The tablet will connect to the internet with Wi-Fi like Apple's iPod Touch and may have a screen as large as 10 inches (25.4cm), the paper said.

Publishers have reportedly been in talks with Apple about offering books on the device, which could lead it into competition with Amazon's Kindle e-book reader.

The Kindle and Kindle 2 readers have a 6-inch screen (15.24cm). Amazon recently announced a new version, the Kindle DX, with a 9.4 inch (23.8cm) screen.

Amazon also offers a Kindle application for Apple's iPhone that allows users to read its e-books on the handset.

 However the rumoured Apple tablet would also let users watch movies and would cost more than Amazon's device.

One analyst estimated that the Apple tablet could cost between $US600 and $US1000 ($734 and $1224).
"I think it will have a lot of the functionality of the iPod touch, but will be quite a bit bigger," Oppenheimer & Co analyst Yair Reiner told the paper.

The other rumoured Apple project, codenamed "Cocktail", would see the company team up with all four major record labels to add interactive features to music downloads, the paper said.

EMI, Sony, Warner and Universal were hoping for a September launch to help increase album sales, according to anonymous sources.

With Reuters